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Facts and figures I 



SHOWING THE 



DISCRIMINATION 



AGAINST THE 



lEASTERN PORTION OF THE DISTRICT I 



IN RELATION TO 



STREET IMPROVEMENTS, &c 



= WASHINGTON, D. C. = 

E R. O. POLKINHORN, PRINTER. E 

E i'^s;3. = 

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FACTS AND FIGURES 



SHOWING THE 



DISCRIMINATION 



AGAINST THE 



EASTERN PORTION OF THE DISTRICT 



IN RELATION TO 



STREET IMPROVEMENTS, &c. 



WASHINGTON^ D. C, 

B. O. POLKINHORN, PRINTER. 

1883. 



^J^ 



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STATEMENT 



^0 THE Hox. Commissioners 

OF THE District of Columbia, 

Gentlemen: We come as a committee representing the property 
holders and tax payers of the'eavStern part of the District, — not of any 
particular street or locality, but of East Washington as a whole. 
We come not to ask for improvements in front of any man's property 
or on any particular street, but to call your attention specially to 
what we claim has been a most unjust discrimination against that 
portion of the District in th6 expenditure of the public funds for the 
improvement of the streets, avenues, sewers, water supply, &c., and 
to invoke a change of policy in that respect. 

To guard against misapprehension, we desire to say that we have 
no desire to antagonize the present Commissioners, but to co-operate 
with you if possible, in securing a more just and equitable distribu- 
tion of the District funds. Our object is to present the facts as shown 
by the records, in order that you may act understandingly, and we 
do it at this time before you prepare the estimate for the coming 
year, in order that there mav not again be the excuse that provision 
for the eastern section " was not included in the estimates." 

Of all the duties which you have to perform, there is none which 
so affects the interests of the citizens generally^ and of the property- 
holders in particular, as that of making up the estimates for street 
improvements. The estimates for all other rnatters pertaining to 
District affairs is so fixed by law and so much a matter of course, 
as to leave you but little if any discretion : but in the matter of 
street improvements you have full discretion. Now what we ask is, 
that you shall so exercise that discretionary power as to work '* equal 
and exact justice to all." 

As moit of you are comparative strangers to the transactions which 
have occurred here since we vrere deprived of a voice in our local 
government in February, 1871, and entirely so in 1878, it is necessary 
that we state briefly the principal facts, in ^der that you may clearly 
understand the situation. 

The Board of Public Works expended in all, about §80,000,000, of 
which over two-thirds remains. saddled upon us as a debt. It is well 
known that the great bulk of that was spent tor improvements in the 
central and northwest portions of the city and Georgetown, while al- 
most none was spent east of the Capitol. 

The Board of Public Works had but fairly commenced operations 
v^ east of the Capitol tvhen they were abolished by Congress. The princi- 



# 

pal work done there was to grade the streets preparatory to future 
improvements, and the result is that the money that was expended, 
with a few exceptions, was rather a damage than a benefit; because 
our graveled roadways were taken away, and in place of them we 
have, over a large portion of that section, a series of deep cuts or 
canals, leaving a clay bed that suffocates us with dust in dry weather, 
and mires us in mud in wet weather. This condition of affairs, with 
the exception of a few streets, exists from near the outskirts to within 
three or four squares of the Capitol buikling, and, in some instances, 
extends to the Capitol grounds. In some instances the avenues and 
streets were cut down from ten to thirty feet^ so that the lots cannot 
be sold to-day for enough to bring them to grade ! 

That, gentlemen, is what the Board of Public Works did for East 
Washington. 

Turning now to what has been done by your predecessors since, you 
will, find that it has been a continuous policy of discrimination against 
East Washington ; and lest you may think that this is merely the 
loose talk of a lot of "cranks "and "chronic grumblers," as we have been 
elegantly termed by some of your subordinates — men who are living 
upon taxes paid by us in common with other citizens — we invite your 
attention to the statements of Senators on this point, made during the 
discussion of the District appropriation bill at the last session, and 
which may be found in the Congressional Record of February 24th, 
1883, pages 48 to 55. 

Said Senator Plumb: 

" There has always been a great deal of controversy in this city as to the 
place where these funds for the replacement of pavements should be expended. 
The sub-committee having the bill in charge here gave a somewhat extended 
consideration to the subject last year, and were satisfied that some partiality was 
being exhibited, that pavements were being replaced in quarters of the city beyond 
the actual need of improvements, and to some extent for the purpose of inducing im- 
provements in some way that it is not proper to characterize in any harsh way ; but 
everything being comparative, we concluded that on the whole more money should be 
expended upon the eastern side and upon the streets upon the east side of the Capitol. 
Some conversation ensuing about the matter, and these complaints being brought 
to the attention of the Commissioners through the iutervenlion of the sub-com- 
mittee, the Commissioners stated that another year, being this present year, more 
money actually and in proportion would be by them expended in the replacement of 
pavements on the^east side of the Capitol. It was not designed to revise their 
schedule and set up a new classification of streets to be attended to, but to empha- 
size the expression thn,t some of this money shall go east of the Capitol, as 1 have 
stated. 

There is only a very small f)ortion of this money provided to be expended east 
of the Capitol, I think less than $25,000 — I am not sure what precise amount — 
while the sum of nearly $40,000 is provided to be expended to replace a stone 
pavement, good but rough, on H street, for the purpose of connecting the northwest- 
ern portion of the city icith the country in the direction of the racer-course, carrying 
all the trade and travel away from and by and around what might be called the 
Bast Capitol side of the city. In making iMs change, the committee designed to 
2)ractically compel the Commissioners to an expenditure which they regard moxe 
suitable than that provided for in the estimates.'' 

Said Senator Sherman: 

"I sympathize entirely with the complaints that have been made by the people 



o 

of this District, by large petitions sent here from time to time from those living in 
the eastern part 6( the city. They have been compelled to pay their share 

OF THE TAXES ON A VERY LAIIGE VALUATION OP THEIR PKOPEliTY, AVHILE ALL 
THE IMPROVEMENTS HAVE BEEN IN THE PART OF THE CITY WHERE MOST OF US 
LIVE, THE WESTERN AND NORTHWESTERN PORTION OP THE CITY, AND IT IS A JUST 

COMPLAINT THAT CANNOT BE ANSWERED. I mysclf have inquired of the Commis- 
sioners why it is that this discrimination has been made against the eastern part of the 
city, andtliey say it is all because, in the early improvement of this oMy, under 
the old Board of Public Works, expensive wooden pavements were laid down in 
the western part of the city, and they are now so poor as to be much worse than 
any kind of an ordinary country road, and therefore the money must be first ex- 
pended to replace those pavements. 

" I do not believe this is a sufficient ansicer to the complaint that has been made on 
the part of these people, most of them poor. They have been compelled to pay taxes 
and not enjoy any of the benefits of the improvements for which their taxes go. 

Inde.ed, if the committee could see their way clear to require a proportionate 
expenditure in the eastern part of the city, I think it would be more just. I should 
vote for a proposition that would require fully one-fourth of the expenditure under 
this appropriation to be made in the eastern part of the city, or one-third, in order 
to repair this injustice ; but I suppose that would be rather striking blindly at the 
matter, and therefore I think it is better to give the commissioners the money 
they ask for to complete the improvements proposed in the bill, the schedule of 
Which we have, and which I believe covers the replacement of all the wooden 
pavements now necessary to be replaced, and then with the hope that in the next 
year's appropriation soone kind of justice will be done to the people living in the east- 
ern part of the city. " ' 

Referring to a proposed reduction of the amount he said: 

"I think it will be better to follow the plan of the Commissioners, to give them 
enough money to replace the wooden pavements, and make this proviso, that a 
reasonable distribution shall be made of the money provided hy Congress, with 
the hope that in the next year the complaints of those citizens that have been laid on 
our table yeo/r after year icill be fairly met by a proportionate appropriation of 
money for the improvement of streets in the eastern part of the city.'" 

And after speaking of the great injustice done to the people in the 
southeastern section, by allowing the B, k P. Railroad to run through 
there, he adds : 

"The result has been that the eastern part of this city has been gradually go- 
ing to decay, while the western part of the city has become magnificent in its 
improvements, and magnificent in its proportions. All that part of the city ly- 
ing between this Capitol and Georgetown has increased nearly tlireefold. Indeed, 
within fifteen years property worth 20 or 30 cents a foot has come to be worth two 
or three dollars a foot ; and all that because the Government has seen fit to concen- 
trate its improvements in the western opart of the city, while the price of property 
in the eastern part of the city has gradually gone down and down. The reason 
is merely because the government of the District under acts of Congress has con- 
stantly discriminated against this part of the city." 

' And again, in referring to an amendment offered by Senator 
Ingalls, he said : 

"I sympathize entirely with the amendment of the Senator from Kansas [Mr. 
Ingalls], but I am afraid that on account of the words of limitation in the previ- 
ous part of the clause it will not accomplish its purpose. The section now is con- 
fined to work on sundry avenues and streets and the replacements of pavements 
on streets named in classes A, B, C and D of Appendix B, b, referred to. Look- 
ing at Appendix B, I find that the streets are all named. Two of them seem to be 
east- of the Capitol, one East Capitol street, and the other H street." 



And he added : 

"H street really ought not to be charged to the eastern part of the city, be- 
cause the improvement of H street is really for the benefit of the western part of 
the city." 

Said Senator Ingalls : 

"A very casual inspection of the superficies of this city will convince every- 
body that great partiality has been done and great injustice done. There used to 
be a story current about General Grant in his humbler days to the effect that he 
once declared that he wished he could be mayor of the city of Galena ; and when 
asked the reason of that ambition he said it was because he wanted to have a side- 
walk laid from the depot to his residence. That illustrates the general vice that 
follows the location of the municipal authorities in any one quarter of the city. — 
It is a fact that the District Commissioners, as a rule, have been selected from the 
northwestern portion of "Washington, and, withou.t any impropriety or without 
any abuse of their functions, the result has inevitably been that all the expenditures 
and all the improvements and all the advantages from the expenditure of money 
have been in that direction, so that we now have the spectacle of a city entirely im- 
proved, so far as pavements are concerned, up to the loestern boundary. 

"I believe that the streets have all been laid with concrete, that the wooden 
pavements have been torn up and replaced either with stone or with bitumen, so 
that nothing there remains to be done except to keep them in repair. But with 
regard to this portion of the city it is appgrent to any one that great wrong exists. 
Take I^orth Capitol street, one of the main approaches to the Capitol itself ; from 
the entrance to the public grounds to C street, it is to-day merely a mud-7iole, it is a 
morass almost, in which wagons of ordinary weight would become mired. Not only 
is there no wooden pavement, but there is no pavement at all. There is no reason 
why that avenue, which is one of the great radiating avenues from the Capitol, 
«hould no thave been paved. It has been favoritism, it has been injustice, it has 
been a partial appropriation of the public funds. 

Mr. EDMUNDS. The expenditure hitherto has been in that part of the citj'' 
■which the Supreme Court of the United States held could not be investigated. 

Mr. SHERMAN. Where nearly all of us live. 

Mr. INGALLS. It has been appropriated where nearly all the property- 
holders in the Senate live and where the commissione/rs hitherto resided." 

Said Senator Eollins : 

"Before it is passed over I desire to say a word upon the subiect, because my 
attention has been called to it as a member of the Committee on the District of 
Columbia very often during the last four or five years. 

"I had some experience myselt while residing on Capitol Hill. I saw year after 
year the great body of the money appropriated applied for the improvement of the 
streets in the west and northwest portions of the city to the almost utter neglect of the 
streets and avenues of the east side of the city, east of the Capitol. I think if any 
Senator will take the map which lies upon the desk of the Senator from Wisconsin 
[Mr. Cameron] and look at it, he will see at a glance what great injustice has 
been done to the people residing in the eastern portion of this city. There the streets 
and avenues are colored in such a way as to indicate just what streets have been 
improved, and how they have been improved, and what streets have been utterly 
neglected in this expenditure of money for the District of Columbia. It is a 
most wonderful exhibit and shows the great injustice that has been done by the utter 
neglect of a proper distribution of the funds of the District of Columbia. 

" I concur in this matter most heartily with the Senator from Ohio and both 
Senators from Kansas in the remarks they have made. Take the avenues : Mary- 
land avenue, a magnificent avenue extending from a point east of the Capitol 
grounds ; while the authorities are improving avenues and streets miles distant 
in the west and northwestei-n portions of the city they ore doing comparatively 
nothing for this avenue and others m the portion of the city cast of this building. 

"Now. under the proviso wliich has been recommended by the Committee on 
Appropriations, what will be the result? If the Commit»8iouers spend all the 
money that has been efltimated for the eastern i>ortion of the city, It will be only 



10 per cent, of th-e whole amount. Even that would be unjust. I should be glad to 
liave the committee go still further and make a furtlier ameiidmeat to provide 
that a larger proportion of this sum shall be spent in that direction. 

"I speak now, I think, impartially, because I live in the northwestern portion 
of the city, and the expenditure of money there is a source of convenience and 
comfort to me. I have left Capitol Hill, but I want to call the attention of the 
Senate to this great injustice.'' 

In reply to the inquiry why an amendment for paving a street in 
the northwest had been stricken out, and which the Senator said he 
had offered on the supposition that the former policy of spending all 
the monev^ in the northwest section was to be continued, — 

Senator Plumb said : 

"The comiliittee did not purpose to perpetuate it (this policy) at all events, but 
proposed to prevent, if we could, the expenditure of so large a portion of money in 
the no'rthioestern part of the city. The District Board of Commissioners have 
been treated b}^ Congress as persons not entitled to be trusted with any consider, 
able discretion as to the expenditure of money. Instead of giving them sums in 
gross to be expended, we give them items the same as we do employes in the 
Treasury Department and other officers directly under our charge. 

"We ask them to make report of the streets on which they will make im- 
provements, and then appropriate for those particular streets, understanding 
that their judgment may be clianged half a dozen times before the expenditure can 
be made. We give them clerks by name, and so on all the way through this bill. 
They, in turn, I take it, somewhat accepting the view that Congress takes of 
their functions, divide up their own responsibility, and the care of the streets falls 
to one person, of the police to another, and so all the way around ; and the 
board is three distinct atoms in place of being one unit. In that way, perhaps, to 
some extent the designation of streets has fallen into the hands of a particular per- 
son. The board has been recently somewhat reorganized ; it is expected that it 
will be still further reorganized by the appointment of a new commissioner or a 
continuation of the old one for a definite term. Out of either or both of these 
contingencies will arise perhaps a better condition of things than we have had 
heretofore. 

" I do not know that any language can be devised (unless the Senate were 
prepared to take up the schedules and go through them for the purpose of pick- 
ing out particular streets to be improved other than those named) under which 
anything effective can be done. The action of the committee was a protest against 
what is proposed for the coming year, and a protest based upon the action of the com- 
missioners for the preceding year, and upon the understanding had last year that 
the system of improvements 'should not hereafter be carried on so extensively for the 
bejiefit of the northwestern part of the city. 

"It has been the plan, as I think it still is, to carry on the work of placing 
sidewalks and curbing and guttering in front of unimproved property far beyond, 
or at least, some considerable distance beyond, the residence portion of the city. At 
all events, the effect of that is, whatever the design may be, to increase largely the 
value of such property. " 

That this discrimination was the fault of tlie Commissioners was 
clearly the opinion of the Senate Committee, as shown by the fol- 
lowing, in answer to an inquiry why these abuses were permitted. 

Mr. COCKRELL. I should like to ask the Senator how we are going to cor- 
rect the abuses of which he speaks when the Commissioners year after year 

PERSISTENTLY REFUSE TO MAKE ANY ESTIMATE FOR THE EASTERN PART OF THE 

CITY ? They do not put it in their estimates, and hence we must take the 
responsibility of directing them 

•We do not deem it necessary to add any words of our own to the 



8 

foregoing statements of Senators. The eharire is clear, full and spe- 
cific, and we think folly confirms and justifies our repeated corn- 
plaints; and it is a significaut fact, that not a word to the contrary 
was uttered by a single Senator. 

PROOFS TO SUSTAIN THE CHARGE. 

We now call attention to some facts and official figures, as proving 
the truth of the charge of discrimination, and we take only those 
figures which relate directly or indirectly to the streets, sewers and 
water. 

The Report of the Commissioners for 1879, p. 1, shows expendi- 
tures, as follows : 

Replacing wood pavements., $299,285 03 

Repair and improvement of streets , 34,695 53 

Sewers. 44,392 17 

Permit work 2,397 61 

Water Department (including $29,395 40, part payment for stand- 
pipe) 82,686 08 

Engineers Department 143,817 08 



Total for 1878 $607,273 49 

Eeport of 1880, p. 1, shows : 

Replacing wood pavements $199, 779 39 

Repair and improvement of streets 197.491 31 

Sewers 1 17, 303 66 

Repair and cleaning sewers 13,795 81 

Permit work 13,527 24 

Engineers Department 91,081 93 

Water Department 169,575 65 



Total for 1879. $812,555 17 

Report of 1881, p. 1 : 

Replacing wood pavements $271,288 82 

Repairs to concrete pavements 51,847 56 

Repairs to 7Mi street road , 14, 995 50 

Survey for extension of streets and avenues 4,988 34 

Sewers 115,391 75 

Permit work 20,405 09 

Water Department 140,738 74 



Total for 1880 $609,654 80 

Report of 1882, page 135: 

Replacement of pavements and improvement of streets and avenues. $300,000 Of) 

Repairs of concrete pavements 19,784 53 

Material for permit work 19,947 24 

Repairs to Macadam roadways 4, 991 02 

Repairs to streets, alleys and avenues 19,987 76 

Repairs to couiilry roads and suburban streets; 19,971 52 

Division of streets, alleys and country roads, office 5,600 00 

Engineer's Department 32,400 63 

Water supply 97,968 95 



9 

Sewers — cleaning and repair 19,981 76 

Lateral sewers 14,999 90 

New Yoik avenue sewer 6,854 98 

Boundary street auxiliary 'sewer 79,380 79 

Survey ior exte nsion of streets and avenues 4,986 60 

Total for 1881 $772,824 7 

Appropriation act, approved March 3, 1883 : 

Engineer's Department $61,450 00 

Improvements — repair of streets and tor sewers 535,000 00 

Water Department ; 95, 861 50 

Total $592,311 50 

SUMMARY : 

For 1878 $607,273 49 

" 1879 ■ 812,555 17 

" 1880 669,654 80 

" 1881 772,824 78 

" 1882 592,311 50 



Total since 1877 • $3,454,619 74 



What East Washington Has Had of It. 

From the peculiar manner in which the estimates were made by 
the Commissioners, and which Secretary Sherman, in his letter trans- 
mitting them to Congress, December 10, 1879, denounced as a vio- 
lation of the act of June 11, 187^, in that they did not " show in de- 
tail the work proposed to be undertaken by them during the fiscal 
year next ensuing, and the estimated cost thereof," it is impossible 
for us to show precisely what proportion of this sum of nearly three 
and a half millions has been expended east of the Capitol ; but there 
are some data which will give an approximate idea. 

In the first place, a glance at the map of street improvements ac- 
companying the Commissioners' Eeport for 1882 shows that the great 
bulk of it has been expended west ot the Capitol, and mostly in the 
northwest quarter. 

Second^ by taking the schedule of streets to be improved in 1882, 
and picking out those in the four different quarters, into which Lieu- 
tenant Green told the Senate committee they had divided the city, 
we find the $355,875 appropriated, was divided as follows : 

For the northwest quarter $273,500 

" southwest " 20,750 

" southeast " 57,125 

" northeast " 4,500 



10 

this $4,500 being expended on North Capitol street in the vicinity 
of the Government Printing Office, on a street that is not and cannot 
be opened through, because of the B. k O. R. R. and its depot, where 
it is of no benefit to those residing east of the Capitol. 

Third. The Commissioners, estimate for street improvements for 
1883-4 amounted to $374,732.25, and it included streets east of the 
Capitol, as follows : 

East Capitol, from 4th to 11th $13,918 50 

North Capitol, B to C (one-half). 3,398 75 

Penna. avenue (north side) 8th to 11th 9,450 00 

A north, 9th to 10th 7,437 00 " 

Fiith, Penna. ave. to Ya. ave 7,000 00 

Total amount east of the Capitol. . $44,204. 25. 

or but a little more than one-ninth. Or, if we take the amount ap- 
propriated for streets, sewers, surveys, permit work, engineers and 
wat^r department amounting to $705,858.50, it is but one-sixteejith. 

We are aware that the appropriation bill includes, for H street 
north from North Capitol to Boundary, the sum of $50,566.25, less 
$3,375 which the street railway company is expected to pay ; but, as 
stated by Senator Sherman, that ought not to be charged to .East 
Washington, as it is really for the benefit of the northwest; or, as 
Senator Plumb said, it is to connect the northwestern portion of the 
city with the country in the direction of the race-course, and he 
might have added, for the special benefit, also, of the Washington 
Brick Machine Co. 

But there is something more "to be said about this H-street expen- 
diture. An examination of the records shows that there has been 
already expended on that street, from North Capitol to Boundary — 
the verv ground covered by the present estimate — no less than 
$138,980.37! 

See Report of 1876, pp. 224^and 276. 

It is already paved with stone, rough, it is true, but tar better 
than none. When Senator Dawes requested tliat just such a pave- 
ment on I street might be replaced with concrete for only three 
squares, Commissioner Dent replied that there was some twelve miles 
of such pavement in the city, and that they could not think of such 
a thing until other streets, which had never had any, were provided 
with some kind of a pavement. No wonder Senatoi's considered it an 
outrage to tear up that pavement and replace it with Belgian blocks, 
as pretended, but with asphalt, as we now understand, thus spending 
more on it than in all tlie eastern section together. Over ^$12,000 
of tliis is represented in the estimates as being for the replacement of 
wood pavements, when, as a matter of fact, there is no wood pave- 
ment there — it was replaced by gravel two years ago. While that 



11 

street will thus have received nearly $190,000, there are whole 
squares, all built up withirt a short distance from the ('apitol, which 
have not received a cent since the inauguration of the Commissioner 
form of government in 1878. 

It is therefore no wonder that Senator Plumb said the action of 
the committee was intended as a protest against the proposed action of 
the commissioners. 

It was clearly the intention of the Senate that this $50,000 instead 
ot being expended on H street should be added to the amount to be 
spent east of the capitol. As reported from the House, the total 
amount for streets was |350,000, which the Senate Committee re- 
duced to §250,000. Senator Ingalls offered an amendment restoring 
the amount to $350,000 with the proviso — ^^That one-third of said 
sum shall be expended on the avenues and streets east of First street 
westy 

On motion of Senator Edmunds, the amount was fixed. at $300,- 
000. 

Then Senator Sherman offered the following, which was adopted, 
viz : 

"And in addition thereto WxevQ sLall be expended out of the said sum for the im- 
provement of streets and avenues east of First street west, $50,000. 
Mr. INGALLS. That is in lieu ot the one I oflered, to which I consent." 

By some mysterious operation, this proviso that this $50,000 should 
be expended on the streets and avenues east, was dropped out oi the 
bill, and does not appear in the law. It clearly did not mean on H 
street, because.if it had, it would not have said ''^streets and avenues.^'' 

When some of us met Lieut. Green before the Senate Committee, 
in the spring of 1881, and called attention to the expenditures on un- 
occupied streets, such as South Capitol and New Hampshire avenues, 
his reply was that the policy adopted was to improve the avenues 
and principal streets first. As an illustration of how that policy has 
been applied to the disadvantage of the eastern section, look at the 
map. While nearly every avenue west of the Capitol has been im- 
proved not one of those east of it has been improved except a portion 
of Pennsylvania avenue and East Capitol street. Massachusetts 
avenue is paved with asphalt from Hock Creek to New Jersey avenue 
near the Baltimore & Ohio Depot, but not a foot of it east of there. 
In fact, in driving over that avenue to-day, from New Jersey avenue 
to North Capitol street, one has to twist and turn m all directions to 
avoid the mud-holes to get along at all. 

If it be said that those in the western section are more used and 
therefore more necessarv, we will call your attention to a comparison 
of New Hampshire and*^Maryland avenues. The former extends from 
the river at the foot of 27th street parallel with Eock Creek, to the junc- 
tion of 15th and Boundary streets. It runs through the outskirts of 
the northwest portion, and what was recently a succession of gull^ys, 



12 

pond-holes, and commons. For near half a mile, there is not a 
building on it even now. It is not one of the main thoroughfares 
leading into the country or anywhere else, and over a portion of it a 
vehicle seldom passes. And jqI, on that avenue there was expended 
up to 1876, 1196,338.16. 

See Report for 1876, pp. 311 to 313 : 

Subsequently there was expended on it the sum of . . . . 1,517 14 

See Eeport for 1877, p. 135 : 

Since 1878 there has been expended on it the further 

sum of 55,463 70 



See Commissioners estimates for 1880, 1, 2, 3, thus mak- 
ing in all no less than ^ $252,819 00 

Over a quarter of a million. 

It is no wonder that a member of the " real estate pool " advised a 
citizen of the Hill to invest on New Hampshire avenue, as a specu- 
lation, and gave as his reason, that " they had induced the authori- 
ties to expend a large su7n there, and were going to get still more." 

On the. other hand, as stated^ by Senator Rollins, Maryland ave- 
nue is a magnificent avenue, and extends from the Capitol direct to 
the northeast boundary, where it receives the travel from Bladens- 
burg and the country beyond, and all that crosses Benning's Bridge 
from the east way out into Maryland, and in fact receives more travel 
from the country than any other street except Seventh. Indeed, so 
important was it considered by the Board of Public Works, that as 
early as 1872, they had decided to pave the whole'of it, and it is 
represented as paved on the map published by them exhibiting the 
streets and avenues "completed and in course of completion," dated 
November 1, 1872. With the exception of spreading on it some dirt 
by courtesy called gravel, there has been nothing done on it since 
1878 ; and the only thing done by the Board of Public Works was to 
grade it, leaving many of the houses and lots perched up in the air 
from five to thirty feet. To-day the lots will not sell for enough to 
bring them to grade, and some of the owners have actually aband- 
oned them, rather than attempt to pay the special improvement 
tax imposed for the grading! That is a fair sample of how the 
policy of improving the avenues first, has been applied in the east- 
ern section. 

What has been done for the other avenues east of the Capitol is 
well expressed by the following Irom the IStar of June 30th, ult.: 

"The fact that our boasted Pennsylvania avenue, the great artery and thorough- 
fare that sweeps in its majesty from Rock Creek by the way of the Presidential 
Mansion and the Capitol and eastward far beyond, finally looses itself in numer- 
ous deep and rugged ravines, is known, perhaps, to but very few. At least a 
half mile of its extent remains in the same condition in which the British troops 
left it in 1814, when the bridge was burnt. This is a burning shame; and until 
wd can drive from one end of this avenue to the other we should refrain from 
speaking of it as the 'grandest street in the world.' " 



13 

An appropriation of $140,000 has been secured for a bridge across 
the river above Georgetown, although there are two now tiiere, ,but 
little further apart than Benning's and Auacostia bridges across the 
Eastern Branch, besides the Long bridge, further down. Why, then, 
should not Pennsylvania avenue be opened, and a bridge built across 
the Eastern Branch ? As the above article adds : 

"The alluvial lands all along the Eastern Branch are admirably adapted to the 
purpose fcM' which they are used, viz.: market gardening. On the highlands ad- 
joining the gardens are many eligible and beautiful sites and a few handsome 
residences, and the health of the people will compare favorabl}'- with those of any 
other portion of this District, even that of the famed northwest. Fruhs of every 
variety adapted to this latitude do well and pay well if properly cultivated. 
Grapes, pears, cherries and the smaller fruits especially succeed well and never 
fail. A few impro«i^ments, such as the extension, or rather the grading and pav- 
ing, ot Pennsylvania avenue to its terminus, and in connection therewith the re- 
building of the bridge across the Eastern Branch, together with a suitable road 
to the Maryland line, would fully revive this long-overlooked and non-appreciated 
section ot the city and suburbs." 

We see ho good reason wl?y the present discrimination should be 
continued in these respects also. 

Right in the heart of the best part of the eastern section are six- 
teen squares, large and small, bounded by 6th and 11th Sts., A St. 
south and Pa. Avenue, where the streets have not been touched, the 
sidewalks not set out, the road bed not graded, and no trees planted. 
Through these run N. C. and S. C. Avenues, on which new build- 
ings are being erected, as on many of the streets, and to this day 
there is not even a tree on them, although trees are being planted 
outside of the city limits in the Northwest. On some of the streets, 
notably 8th, the improvements have been made, as to grading, set- 
ting out the sidewalks and planting trees from East Capitol to South 
A, and there stopped. From there all the way down to Pa. Ave., 
not a thing has been done ; and though citizens have petitioned time 
and again to have the street merely regulated, by the bringing out 
of the sidewalks and placing them at grade, so they could plant trees 
at their own expense, and although that has been provided for in 
the estimates, and shown on the of^cial map as done in part, it has 
never been done, and the provision for it has been finally dropped 
from the estimates. Some of that propert}^ is owned by the most 
enterprising business citizens of that section, who have their homes 
there, and some of whom have already paid more for sidewalks, 
change of grade, &c., than the property itself cost. 

In wet weather it is almost impossible to drive through many of 
these streets; and even with ordinary summer showers, one is obliged 
to twist and turn in all directions to avoid the mud holes. East of 
11th street there has been absolutely no improvements, except the 
deep cuts made by the Board of Works, which are worse itian none. 

If it be said that east of 11th is mainly unoccupied, we answer so 
was the extreme northwest until the improvements 'were made there. 
Moreover, the eastern section is natually much easier to improve 



14 

than the "slashes " and commons of the northwest, with its hills, ra- 
vines and pond holes. Besides, the eastern section is not owned and 
held for speculation as the other was and is. No " real estate pool" 
or ring has ever operated there, and we can see no valid reason why 
it should not receive its share of the improvements. It all pays 
taxes. It is simply because no improvements are made there, that 
it is not and cannot be built up. 

South of the Capitol it is equally bad. There is hardly a street 
that one can drive through east and. west. Indeed, from the bound- 
ary on the north to the river on the south there are only about a 
half a dozen streets that are passable. Compare this condition with 
that of the Avest end, and no one can fail to see how unjust and per- 
sistent the discrimination has been. 

As long ago as 1875, Lieutenant Hoxie, in his report, said : 

" On Capitol Hill the grading under contract has b*ien diminished about one 
half, and the work distributed upon other streets. The improvements intended 
for certain localities have been transferred to others, and the character of the im- 
provements modified as circumstances seemed tO demand." 

What the circumstances were which demanded this change he 
does not tell us ; nor was it necessary, for all of us who resided here, 
and understood the motives and influences which controlled, know 
perfectly well that it was the " demand " of the " real estate pool " 
and speculators, who controlled everything in their own interests. 

AS TO SEWERS. 

The w^estern section was generally provided with sewers along 
with its street improvements, but in the eastern section, whenever a 
citizen desires to build, although the building regulations made by 
the Commissioners requires him to connect his house with a sew^er, 
still they have persistently refused to provide sewers to connect 
with, and require individuals to build them at their own expense, 
their excuse being that there is no appropriation, simply be- 
cause they had neglected to include them in their estimates; and 
when, as in the present season, money is used for that purpose, 
nearly all of it is expended in the western section, as shown by the 
recent advertisement for bids. 

The official map of sewers published in 1880, shows that even ad- 
joining the Capitol grounds there are no sewers except such as have 
been built by individuals at their own expense; that Maryland avenue 
has none from the Capitol to 7th street ; and that there are whole 
squares within a few squares of the Capitol which have no sewers, 
and very few of the avenues have any. 

How that section is affected by this want of sewers is illustrated 
by the following from the Republic of December, last : — 

"A short time ago a gentleman of this city, of the name of Smith (no fiction), 
purchased a nice lot on Pennsylvania avenue, southeast, suitable for two nice 
residences, contemplating the erection thereon of two dwelling houses at a cost of 



15 

ten thousand dollars. As there was no sewer-main directly along the front line 
of his lot, he requested permission to connect diagonally across said avenue some 
two hundred leet, exclusively at his own expense, with a large sewer-main of a 
capacity at least ten times beyond the greatest possibilities of every present inlet 
source of supply. But Mr. Hoxie, to whom he was referred, denied his request 
and admonished him to abandon the location he had selected and to settle down 
at the West End, where water and sewer conveniences were already provided. 

"Finally, several of the most reputable gentlemen ot the vicinity went with 
him to intercede for him with the Commissioners, and after consultation, a quo- 
rum being present, the board unanimously ordered and bj^ endorsment on his 
application directed that permission be granted as he had requested. 

"But on going to Captain Hoxie for the permit he was still refused, and as I am 
assured, incredible as it may appear, Mr. Smith was ordered to get out of the 
office. At any rate, dismayed and discouraged, the projected enterprise on Cap- 
itol Hill was abandoned and his investment in the northwest has been made as if 
by a forced obedience to a military edict. " 

In another case, a resident on Maryland avenue who built before 
there were any sewers, and instead had dug a cess- pool on the rear 
of his lot, and whose daughter lay at the point of death from typhoid 
fever, induced, as her physician assured him, by the presence of that 
cess-pool, asked permission to connect it, at his own expense, through 
the alley with the nearest sewer ; he was absolutely refused! And 
when, in his desperation and as the only means of saving the life of 
his family, he attempted to make the connection without a permit, 
he was arrested and taken before the Police Court ; a proceeding 
that Chief Justice Cartter denounced as one of the grossest outrages 
ever perpetrated on a citizen. These are samples of the treatment 
our citizens have received in the matter of sewers. 

THE WATEE SEKVICE. 

As all know, the residents on the high grounds east of the Capi- 
tol, have suffered more than all others for want of water. So serious 
has been the trouble from that source, that many persons have left 
the Hill in consequence, as stated by Senator Beck in the Senate. 

jN^otwithstanding, instead of making any effort to relieve them, 
your predecessors expended a large sum — reported at over S70,000 
— to build a stand-pipe for the special benefit of a section of the 
northwest, and which entails an annual expense of about $15,000. 
When building it they asserted that it was to supply Capitol Hill. 

See Water Kegister's report for 1878, p. 13. 
. Sen. Mis.. Doc. No. 37, 45 Cong. 3 Ses. 

• 
At the urgent request^ of the citizens of the Hill, Congress gave 
them the $25,000 asked for that purpose, and added thereto these 
words: "And the money so advanced shall be expended to improve 
the water supply on Capitol Hill." 

See Act approved June 10, 1879. 

Notwithstanding this positive direction by Congress, that money 
was never used for any such purpose. lutStead of connecting the 



16 

stand pipe with the Hill, they reduced our supplj^ by tapping our 
supply main with a 12 inch pipe, and running it Irom Massachusetts 
avenue down 4th and 4-|- streets to the low grounds southwest of the 
Botanical Garden. That was paid for out ol the water fund. Not 
content with that, they spent §647.28 of that appropriation to assist 
in the purchase of a steam pump, &c., for the use of a private 
citizen, to pump water out of our mains, (although not so stated,) and. 
thus further lessen the general supply on the Hill. The balance of 
the $25,000 they neglected to use, and it went back into the Treasury. 
See Sen. Miss. Doc. No. 51, 46th Cong., 2d ses. 

How the eastern section has been discriminated against since, is 
shown by the fact, that since 1878, there has been laid water mains, 
as follows : 

In the N. W. quarter 30,736 ft. 

" S. W. " 4,290 " 
" S.E. '' 875 " 

" N.E. '' 336 " 

Thus showing that while the west has had 35,026 feet, the east has 
bad but 1,211 feet. 

For a year past citizens have tried in vain to get a small main laid 
on Maryland avenue, within four squai'es of the Capitol, to supply 
dwellin2;s. It is also a fact that the mains laid in the east are much 
smaller, and therefore cost far less per foot than those in the west. 

Again, it is shown in the fire plugs, of which there have been pro- 
vided at the west 35 

East of the Capitol 1 

The same disproportion will also be found in the lamp posts set, 
and, in fact, in nearly ever_)' thing done by the District government. 

THE PERMIT FUI^-D. 

For years Congress has appropriated quite a sum for permit work, 
it having been raised from $20,000 last year to $30,000 for the pres- 
ent year. This fund is ostensibly used to furnish material to citi- 
zens who are willing to pay for the work required where absolutely 
necessary. • 

How it has been used, can be seen by visiting squares 155 and 
156, on Q street between Seventeenth and Eighteenth and New^ 
Hampshire avenue. There will be seen the most expensive granite 
curb, brick walk, and shade trees nicely boxed, while on one square 
there is not even a shanty^ and only six buildings recently erected on 
the other — tliere not being even a foot path along the north side of 
the latter. That property is owned by one man, who holds it merely 
for speculation! That .is but one sample of many. 



17 

Again, a considerable amount of public funds is used to pay con- 
tractors who are excavating for buildings in the west end, for dump- 
ing the excavated earth into the hollows and ponds of that section 
to improve the streets and, consequently, the property of real estate, 
speculators there. It is thus that this permit fund and others is be- 
ing and has been continuously used for the benefit of the west end, 
to the exclusion of the section east of the Capitol. 

Again, it should be borne in mind that the great bulk of the large 
sums annually appropriated for the Engineer's Department is ex- 
pended in that section, necessarily, as the bulk of the work is done 
there. 

The same is also true of the appropriations for sweeping the 
streets and cleaning the alleys, there being but few paved streets to 
be swept east of ihe Capitol, and very few paved alleys. 

Indeed alleys, which have been rendered nuisances, detrimental to 
health, and repeatedly condemned as such by the Health Officer, and 
which were so rendered by the acts of the Board of Public Works, and 
that too within a square of the Capitol Grounds, we have been un- 
able to get anything done with, although petitioned lor time and 
again. Yet we are assured that alleys have been paved, for influen- 
tial parties in other sections, in whole or in part, at public expense. 

So, too, as to the money expended for surveys to extend the streets 
and avenues. It is all expended in the northwest, and 'principally 
for the benefit of speculators. 

The excuse for thus expending the money in the west end has been 
that it was necessary to replace the wood pavements ; but, as Senator 
Sherman well sa3\s, that is not a sufficient answer to our complaints. 
It should be borne in mind that two- thirds of those wood pavements 
were paid for out of the public funds, and that the entire set of new 
concrete pavements made in the western portion are also paid for out 
of the general fund, and thus we have to help pay for two sets of pave- 
ments ^r that favored section, while we have never had any. Besides, 
•miles 01 new^ concrete pavements have been made there, where there 
was never a foot of wood pavement. 

Now, when it is borne in mind, as stated by Hoxie in his report 
of 1876, that " new buildings spring up along the line of the improved 
streets, and the work is hardly commenced before alterations of the 
old buildings is taken in hand to enlarge and improve them," -and 
that '■''the huildings have folloiued almost exclusively the line of the 
iraproved sireets,^^ it will be seen how very unjust this discrimina- 
tion is. 

UNEQUAL TAXATION. 

This injustice has been greatly intensified by the inequality of 
taxation in the two sections, as shown by the official report of ttj^ 
Assessor for the present year, in which he says : 

" A new assessment of real estate for the coming year would seem to be a ne. 



18 

Cessity in order to equalize values, which g-reatly increased in the NORfii- 

WESTERN PART OF THE CITY and DECREASED IN THE EASTERN AND SOUTHEAST, 

Qs well as in many portions of Georgetown, since the last general assessment of 
1878. For instance, twenty squares between Fifteenth and Twenty-first and M 
and P streets, northwest, are now assessed at an average value of 38 cents per 
SQUARE FOOT, aud it is well knowci that the present value would exceed $1.30. 
This average is calculated froin recent actual sales." 

Thus, while this favored section pays taxes at but little over one- 
fourth its actual value, our property pays taxes at a fourth more than 
its value, thus making us pay nearly/oz^r tirjies as much, in projDortion 
to the value of our property, as they do 1 And when you add to this 
the lact that nearly all the taxes we pay are expended in that sec- 
tion, and that, too, largely for the benefit of real estate rings and non- 
resident speculators, it would seem that injustice could hardly go 
further. 

ILLEGAL ACTION. 

In order more fully to carry out this policy of discrimination in 
favor of the western section, the Commissioners even went so far as 
to expend money there in plain open violation of the .law by improv- 
ing streets not included in their estimates, and for which no appropri- 
ation had been made. At the same time, for years, they refused to 
expend the money that had been appropriated in accordance with 
their own. estimates on streets that would have benefitted the eastern 
section. 

To relieve them of this illegal action, they secured the insertion in 
the appropriation bill for 1883 of a disguised provision, which re^ 
lie ves' them of the responsibility of their action in that respect to the 
amount of $50,000; and an application is now being energetically 
pressed before the Comptroller, by one of the ex-Commissioners, for 
relief from the responsibility ot an additional $50,000 misapplied 
by them in the same way, and which the Attorney-General has just 
decided cannot be done. 

Whether this discrimination has been due to the tact, M alleged 
by some of the Senators, that the District officers have all been ap- 
pointed fronf the favored section, you can judge as well as we ; but 
if you will compare the following list of officers and their localities 
with the map showing where the great bulk of the improvements 
have been made, you will find a most striking coincidence: 



L 



19 



Executive and Engineer Officers of the District Government from the 
organization in 1871 to 1882^ inclusive. 



Name, 


Period of Service. 


en 

.C 

-M 
S 

o 
6 

.£ 

a 


Residence, 


Cooke 


.Governor 


May 19, 1871, to Sept. 14, 1873... 


28 


170 AVashington St.. Geo't' 


n. 


Shepherd , 


do 


Sept. 15. 1873. to June 30, 1874. . 


9>sr 


Conn. Av. and L St., N. W . 




Shepherd . 


..B. P. W. 


March 16, 1871, to Sept. 14, 1873 


30 


Conn. Av. and L St., N. W. 




Magruder 


do 


March 16, 1871, to June 30, 1874 


39><^ 


100 West St., Georgetown. 




Brown 


do 


March 16, 1871, to May 23, 1873 


26.V 


Mt. Pleasant. 




Mullet 


do 


July 1, 1871, to Oct. 22, 1872 


15% 


Green St., Georgetown. 




Cluss 


do 


Oct. 23, 1872, to June 30, 1874... 


20 i< 


415 2d St., N. W. 




Willard. . . 


do 


May 24, 1873, to June 30, 1874.. 


1354: 


1337 K St., N. W. 




Blake 


.. do 


Sept. 22, 1873, to June 30, 1874. . 


9H' 


427ESt., N. W. 




Dennison. 


... Comm'r 


July 1, 1874, to June 30, 1878.. . 


48 


16th and H Sts„ N. W. 




Blow 


... do 


July ], 1874, to Jan. , 1875. . . . 


6 


16th and H Sts„ N. W, 




Ketchum. 


... do 


July 3, 1874, to June 30, 3877 ... . 


36 


16th and H Sts., N. W. 




Phelps .... 


.. do 


Jan. 18, 1875, to June 30, 1878.. 


41V 


1500 13th St., N. W. 




Bryan 


.. do 


July 1, 1877 to June 30, 1878. . . , 


12 


1407 Mass. Av., N. W. 




Phelps.... 


Per. Com. 


July 1, 1878, to Nov. 29, 1879. . . . 


17 


Iowa Circle, N. W. 




Dent .... 


do 


July 1, 1878, to June 30, 1879 .... 


12 


Georgetown. 




Twining;.. 


do 


July 1, 1878, to May 5, 1882. . . , 


463^ 


720 14th St., N, W. 




Dent 


do 


July 1, 1879, to July 17, 1882. . . . 


•mvo 


Georgetown, 




Morgan .. 


do 


Nov. 30, 1879, to Dec. 1.5, 1879 .... 


Vz 


1718 R. I. Av , N. W. 




Morgan.. . 


do ' 


Dec. 16, 1879, to Dec. 31, 1882 .... 


mxi 


1718 R, I. Av., N. W. 




Lydecker . 


do 


May 13, 1882, to Dec, 31, 1882 . . 


"iyz 


R. I. Av., N. W, 




West 


do 


July 18, 1882, to Dec, 31, 1882. , . . 


^Yz 


815 15th St., N. W. 




Hoxie 


.Engineer 


July 2, 1874, to Dec. 31, 1882. . . . 


102 


929 17th St., N. W. 




Greene. . . . 


do 


May 15, 1879, to Dec 31, 1882. . . . 


^Vz 


1915 G St., N. W, 




Edmonds. 


...Comm'r 


March 1, 1883 




1625KSt.. N. W. 














U2X 





Taking into account the length of their terms of service, it will be 
seen that — 

Georgetown has had 24 per cent. 

The " WestEnd," 68 " 

Mt. Pleasant, outside of the City 4 " 

The eastern part of the N. W. quarter 4 " 

All the rest of the District " 

We do not mean to chars:e'that"these men were " sinners above all 
other men," but it was long ago said that " where a man's treasure 
is, there will his heart be also," and as the records show where these 
officials resided, there the money has been expended. 

The very fact that you gentlemen all reside in that section, should, 
and we trust will, render you all the more careful to see that full 
justice be done that section which has not, and never has had any 
representative on your board. 

H. E. Paine, 204 A street, S. E. ; 
John Farnsworth, 50 B street, N. E. ; 
W. C. Dodge, 116 B street, N. E. ; 
S. C. Clarke', 501 Stanton Place, N. E.; 



"\ 



20 

E. W. Tyler,. 621 East Capitol street ; 

Duncan S. Walker, 202 A street, S, B. 

Geo. F. Harbin, 223 Eighth street, S. E. ; 

John E. Herrell, 916 Penn. avenue, S. E. ; 

K. M. Green, 416 C street, S. E. ; 

G. M. Oyster, 212 East Capitol street; 

Thomas Taylor, 238 Massachusetts avenue; 

Appleton p. Clark, 119 Sixth street, N. E. 

N. A. Fuller, 628 A street, S. E. ; 

S. A. H. Marks, 649 G street, S. E. ; 

D. T. Jones, 637 B street, N. E. ; 

T. L. DeLand, 126 Seventh street, N. E. ; 

S. H. Walker, 200 Fifth street, N. E. ; 

Committee. 
Washington, D. C, July 19, 1883. 



